


Something ate half my dog, now the other half is trying to eat me

by HelixDraxzonyx



Series: HelixDraxzonyx's Horror Shorts Collection [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Graphic Description
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-02-07 17:43:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21461998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelixDraxzonyx/pseuds/HelixDraxzonyx
Summary: Trent Dalton is just an ordinary man living in Florida with his dog; Riley. One evening, Riley begins acting strangely and runs off. Several hours later, he returns. Half of him does, at least. Whatever happened to Riley changed the dog entirely, and man's best friend has become a monster, intending to turn his best friend into his next meal.
Series: HelixDraxzonyx's Horror Shorts Collection [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1547110





	Something ate half my dog, now the other half is trying to eat me

_The following account was taken from a video camera retrieved at incident site RP-USFL-10448312, which was the scene of a Category 8 Man-made Disturbance. The footage was edited to conceal the identities of The Institute's Crisis Response Unit before being cleared for internet upload._

[Camera feed starts abruptly, swinging up to show the frightened face of a male, mid-thirties, with short dark hair and dark green eyes. He appears to be within a white and pale blue bathroom, though not much can be seen outside the radius of the camera's built-in flashlight. The footage shakes as the man trembles. He licks his lips nervously, sweat beading on his forehead]

My name is Trent Dalton, from Pembroke Pines, Florida. If you're seeing this, stay away, and call the authorities. Who exactly, I dunno. I don't know who could handle something like this. It's fucked. It's all fucked up. What happened... I'll try to explain what happened. It started a few hours ago. Just another normal day. Watching baseball, drinking beer, living life. I have a dog, Riley, he's a Pitbull, and he's basically the only family I have right now. He's always been brave, never scared of anything. Fireworks, jets, gunshots... nothing scares him. He might growl every now and then, but other than that he tends to be pretty quiet. Until today. Must have been about 5pm when I heard him barking like mad. I ran out as soon as he started. It's not like him to bark, let alone to go ballistic like this. I knew something was wrong. It had to be, for Riley to act up like this. I went out in the yard but I couldn't see a thing. Nothing out the ordinary, but Riley was still going crazy. Eventually his collar gave way and he bolted, over towards the Everglades. I tried to chase after him, but Riley was just too damn fast. I lost sight of him, and soon I stopped hearing his barking as well.

I tried searching around. I really did. Kept it up until the sun started going down, but there's only so far I can look. Venturing into the Everglades gets a little risky, especially this time of year. Mating season for the gators. I hear of stray animals getting eaten a lot, and a part of me felt that Riley had ended up the same way. I didn't want to give up looking, but if I accidentally messed up a gator nest, I'd be as good as dead myself. I headed back, put in a call to the police, but they just told me to put up Lost signs and pray that he was still alive. I printed out a whole stack of them, about 500 at least, before deciding to try and get an early night. If I could head out early, right around dawn, maybe I'd stand a chance of getting the posters up before people started heading to work or school. That's when the sounds started.

It was getting close to midnight when I heard them. This sort of soft scraping sound, like something being dragged across the dirt, and whimpering. I turned on the porch lights and looked out the windows, but I couldn't see anything. Silence for a moment, then I could hear scratching, gnawing, and splintering wood. I couldn't quite pinpoint it at first, but then I saw one of the fence posts at the end of the yard break and fall, and there was Riley. I knew something was wrong instantly. It looked like he was unable to walk, he was just kinda dragging himself across the ground, trying to chew his way through the fence. I ran out as he made a hole big enough to crawl through. When Riley came a bit closer, I stopped dead in my tracks. I almost threw up at the sight of him. What was left of him. The reason why Riley was dragging himself along, was because only half of him was there. His entire back half was missing, just a mangled, shredded wound just behind the ribcage. Some of his organs were dragging across the floor, but the strangest thing was that he didn't seem to be in any pain. His face was all bloody as well, splinters of wood sticking out from his snout and around his eyes. I wanted to take a step forward, but my instincts told me not to. They were right.

As soon as Riley saw me, I knew there was something wrong with him. He began growling at me, snarling, like some kind of hungry monster. He bared his teeth at me, and immediately I could see the change in them. His teeth were longer, sharper, more jagged, and there were more of them too. “What the Hell?” I think my thoughts came out of my mouth at the time, I can't be sure. All I know is, Riley wasn't right at all. He was just snarling at me with a hatred and viciousness I've never known before. He started dragging himself towards me. My God! How fast he could move with just those two front limbs. He was pulling himself along like some kind of horror movie monster. I stumbled back and fell to the ground, then rolled and started to retreat, half crawling, half running. I got back inside and closed the back door, pulled the bolt lock across, just as Riley slammed the door. Jesus. The force of it seemed to rattle half the house. He carried on trying to get to me, pounding at the door, scratching, but the door held up. After a while, silence.

I ran around the house, locking doors and windows, trying to make sure Riley couldn't get in. Then I ran upstairs, grabbed my revolver, my cell, and my backpack. The plan was to call a friend, see if I could crash at their place for the night. I turned my phone on, saw the “low battery” icon for half a second then it died on me. “Shit!” Just my luck. I ran for the landline, but as soon as I took it off the hook, I heard this high yelp, and all the power went out. I can only assume Riley gnawed through a power cable or something. For a moment I thought it might have killed him, but apparently not. I felt around in the darkness for a flashlight. Good thing I always keep several of them for power cuts. I found one and switched it on, just as I heard glass shattering in the front room. Riley had broken the window. How, I don't know, but he was in the house now. I took my gun and went to face him. More of him had been shredded away by the broken glass, but he didn't seem to care. The sight must have unnerved me, because the first shot missed. So did the second, the third, the fourth. I managed to steel myself before taking a fifth shot. I hit Riley dead in the left eye, and he went down. He went silent, laid still, bleeding out. I moved closer, cautiously. He was dead.

I lowered my gun, let out a breath, began to lower my guard too. I have no shame in admitting that I pissed myself at what happened next. You would too, if your half-eaten dog with a bullet to the brain suddenly lunged at you. I don't know how I managed it, but I swung my backpack and hit Riley away, before scrambling up the stairs and locking myself in the bathroom. I looked through the pack for something, anything, that could help me. All I found was this camera and two dozen rubbers. I don't even know why they were in there. That's when I had the idea to record this. If anyone sees it, they'll know what happened to me here, whether I survive the night or not. I can hear Riley dragging himself up the stairs. He knows where I am. I've got one bullet left, and Riley won't die. This gun's starting to look really friendly, you know what I mean? I don't know what to do. I don't know what else I can do. Riley's relentless, he won't die, and he's fast for what's left of him. Please, send help!

[The camera turns to face the bathroom door as a low, menacing growl becomes audible. The light from the camera shines under the door, showing the shadow shifting around, and the bloodied drool beginning to leak in. The growl grows into a vicious snarl as scratching and pounding assails the door. While the door rattles on its hinges, which begin to splinter away from the frame, Trent can be heard sobbing, unable to speak anymore. From somewhere within the house comes a shout]

“Contact!” [Two cracks of suppressed gunfire ring out, followed by a soft flump as Riley falls to the floor. Almost immediately, the growling begins again. An authoritative British voice calls out]

“Hold your positions. I'll handle this.” [Riley snarls furiously, and is heard to rush towards the new voices, but he doesn't seem to get far. There is a bright orange light, and the air becomes filled with the sounds of crackling flames and pained howling, and the stench of burning flesh. After a few moments, the light fades away, and wind can be heard blowing within the house before that too fades away. Soft footsteps approach, and there is a gentle knock on the bathroom door.]

“You can come out now. It's safe.” [The footage continues to shake and shudder, then Trent's voice is heard]

“What about Riley?” [The British voice responds]

“The dog? His suffering has been ended. I wish I could have done something to save him, but that is not within my power. There is no further danger here.” [The camera angle rises up as Trent stands, holding the camera high. He unlocks the bathroom door and opens it. A person stands on the other side, but the camera only shows a heavily pixelated face. Their plain black military attire shows nothing distinguishing. Another person stands at the bottom of the staircase, and more are heard moving around the house. Trent's voice comes across, just to the right of the camera]

“Who are you? How did you find me?” [The nearest person answers]

“My name is Orion. I work for... a classified organisation. We deal in situations like these, as well as many more I won't tell you about for your own sake. My team and I were already in the area, investigating a number of strange deaths. We found a common link, and it was that link which led us here, to you. It looks like we were just in time. You are uninjured. Shaken up for sure, but we got to you before you could be wounded. That's a good thing. What happened to your dog would have happened to you as well if you were bitten. It's contagious, I can say that much at least, but it's too early for me to say much more than that. If you have a friend to stay with tonight, I'd recommend it. When you return in the morning, everything here will be cleaned up, like this incident had never happened. What you do after then is another matter. However, we will need to take that video camera. As I said, we work for a classified organisation. I have no objections to the footage being shared online, but we'll need to conceal our identities first. Once that's done, we'll return the camera to you. I promise.” [There is a moment of silence, before the footage ends]

_Now that you have heard this story, it is time to fill in some blanks. Orion's team had been in Florida to investigate a pharmaceutical company that was conducting tests using materials not from this world. While extraterrestrial in origin, these materials are not harmful. Not in their natural state at least. What the company had done was to alter the materials, and fuse them with living animals. They were pursuing a medicine that could reanimate the dead, but they had no idea what they were tampering with. Several specimens broke containment. As Orion told Trent, the condition that afflicted Riley was contagious. Riley had come across an alligator that had been infected. Despite being half-eaten, Riley escaped, but the infection rapidly took hold. The infection is hosted by parasites, which drive the infected subjects to attack any living creature it comes across, thereby allowing the infection to spread. Using technology that cannot be discussed, Orion's team tracked the parasites around the Florida state, eliminating all infected victims. Complete destruction can be achieved via incineration, as was the case with Riley. It took a further 18 hours to find those responsible for creating this infection and arrest them. They are currently being detained by The Institute. The infection and its victims were kept out of the media's attention, despite there being several Human victims. The pharmaceutical company has been shut down, its employees sent away, and the facilities cauterised. Trent stayed with his friend as planned and returned in the morning. All signs of the attack had been erased, all damage repaired. The camera had been returned as well, with the footage, albeit edited to conceal identities, stored within. Since this incident occurred, Trent sold the house and moved away, to New Jersey, where he intends to start his life anew. Is this the end of the matter? It is not currently possible to say with certainty. The parasites can only be tracked on land. If they found a host that could live underwater, then the troubles may not yet be over. However, it has been four months since this incident occurred. No half-eaten animals have been discovered that still live despite such injuries. It is possible that the crisis has come to an end, or perhaps it is simply a case of the infection not returning to land just yet. It is never wise to become overly optimistic. Remain on your guard at all times. If you see an animal living with fatal wounds, one that is trying to attack everything within its path: stay away, and report it online. Do not involve the authorities. They are not trained nor equipped to handle the situation. Report it online. The Institute will find you. Orion, will find you. This concludes the report of case file MD8-773658449-2._


End file.
